This invention relates to a method for isolating, extracting and quantitating a specific component present in a fluid. More particularly, the invention provides an in vivo method for isolating and retrieving specific components present in body fluids and indicative of disease states. The present invention further provides a novel assay procedure for quantitating such components. Associated materials and devices useful in the practice of the present invention are also provided.
The body fluids of healthy individuals (both humans and other animals) contain a variety of biochemical components; however, during disease the normal body fluid chemistry may be altered. In some diseases specific components are added to a particular body fluid, while in other disease states specific components normally present in a body fluid are deleted or reduced in concentration. In either case, the concentration of particular body fluid components may be indicative of disease.
A body fluid component indicative of or diagnostic for a disease state may be classified as a ligate. The use of ligates for the diagnosis of disease has been hampered by the lack of a suitable method for accurately determining the concentration of ligates in the body. Such a determination requires isolating and retrieving a ligate from the body fluid of interest. This problem is particularly acute in cases Where the body fluid is located within a body cavity which contains only a small amount of fluid. For example, a diagnostic procedure involving ligates contained in the gingival crevicular fluid involves removing material from a body cavity which contains, at most, one to two microliters of fluid.
Assuming that a ligate can be successfully isolated and removed from the body, precisely determining the concentration of the component has, in many cases, also proven to be particularly difficult. In the past, it has been necessary to employ expensive, cumbersome and time-consuming assay procedures such as radioimmuno-assaying and high performance liquid chromatography.
Accordingly, it is the aim of the present invention to provide a method for successfully isolating and [completely] removing a ligate from a body fluid.
It is a further aim of the invention to provide a simple and inexpensive assaying procedure for determining the concentration of the ligate in the body fluid.